TSM conquer Envy to qualify for First Strike Finals
In a fantastic tactical matchup to kick off the day in North American First Strike, it was TSM who took down Envy to qualify themselves for the finals. The first seed coming into the event, Envy were unable to defeat a TSM that showed vast improvement on previous outings. TSM have advanced to the finals, where they’ll play the winner of the final game tonight, 100 Thieves and Sentinels.
Ascent was the first map, and team compositions were quite standard: a triple-duelist setup for TSM, while Victor "Victor" Wong and Jake "kaboose" McDonald piloted Phoenix and Reyna respectively. The pistol round was the defending Envy’s due to a flank from Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik coming in late, and strong holds on the A site helped Envy gain an early advantage despite losing the first rifle round. The half was an excellent showcase of the tactics and fakes that strong, coordinated teams could accomplish, as TSM juked opponents to grab empty sites and Envy used ability combos to get info and vision on TSM. A slick clutch from kaboose in the 11th round helped cap off a fantastic half at 6-6.
The second half began with great shock dart usage from Stephen "reltuC" Cutler, almost single-handedly knocking kaboose out of two rounds straight. This helped them grab the pistol and hold off Envy’s force buy, leading to a 9-6 TSM lead. TSM’s coordination continued to fluster Envy, and every member chipped in as they reached match point. A quick double from Subroza and TSM’s stellar second half won them the map 13-7.
Moving on to Split, Anthony "mummAy" DiPaolo was back on his old pick Jett and each team lined up with a Breach. While the pistol and follow-up went to the attacking Envy, an early Operator purchase from Matthew "WARDELL" Yu won TSM the third round and kept the score close. Subroza was on a tear for the fourth, and excellent collapsing and co-ordination put TSM ahead and kept them there. TSM’s triple duelists were finally revealing their full potential when all were rocking on full steam, and Envy couldn’t counter the different pace and strategy of TSM’s composition. The half ended 9-3.
A poor A hold from the attackers TSM gave Envy the pistol again, and while Envy managed to hold on and win the eco, a botched Omen teleport from food helped TSM get the rifle round, and along with the follow-up, the score was 11-5. Subroza again came up huge on Raze to grab TSM picks, and at match point, Envy could not hold them off. TSM took the map 13-5 and series 2-0.
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